Dental instrument construction



M 8, 1951 A. BERLINER 2,552,134

DENTAL INSTRUMENT CONSTRUCTION Filed July 28, 1948 INVENTOR FJBRQHHMBERLINER ATTORNEY Patented May 8, 1951 UNITED STATES OFFICE DENTALINSTRUMENT CONSTRUCTION Abraham Berliner, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor toGollobin Dental 00., Inc., New York, N. Y., a

corporation of New York Application July 28, 1948, Serial No. 41,031

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to dental instrument constructions and moreparticularly is directed to improvement in scaling or planninginstruments for use in periodontal treatments when removing subgingivalirritants, deposits and for- 5 treatment. eign matter and for other likeor similar pur- Fig. 9 is a fragmentary view of a jaw section poses.like Fig. 1 showing the detail of the blade in an Among the objects ofthe invention is to geneffective position, the resilient fiexure of theerally improve dental instruments of the characblade with respect to theshank'being shown in ter described which shall be simple in construc- 10dotted lines, and tion, which shall be relatively inexpensive to Fig. 10is a cross-sectional View of the tooth manufacture, which shall requirea minimum of structure and adhering mass as seen on lines digital skillin manipulation for periodontal and l0-Hl on Fig. 9, showing the wedgingaction of similar dental treatment, which shall provide the blade.simplified technic for the general practitioner to It as b n fo d n abranch the p render periodontal treatment equal to specialtice ofdentistry, known as p ede y, t ists, which shall avoid accidentallacerations one of the p y lo aggravating actors 0011- when used inscaling or planing the root and ducive to periodontal disease is theaccumulacrown surfaces of teeth, which shall be shaped tion ofsubgingival debris and deposits of fo and constructed 1 permit; d iredplaning nd matter on and around the necks of the crowns smoothening ofthe tooth root and crown surand roots of teeth. Such accumulationsmanifaces to be expeditiously accomplished with fest their presence bybecoming calcified through great ease and maximum control, which shalldelmsi in e al Which firmly ad to t e preclude scratching, nicking orgouging the root oth structure. surfaces by virtue of the novelconstruction, and As seen in F s. 1, 9 and 10 tooth Structure T whichshall be eiiicient and practical to a high represents one example oftypical tooth morpholdegree i use, ogy having an exposed cap top portionor crown Other objects of the invention will in part be C, a neck porton N extending about t ooth T obvious and in part hereinafter pointedout. The jus b ow t e B own C in the e ion of e um invention accordinglyconsists of features of gingival ne and a root R of teeth Tconstruction, combination of elements, arrange- Which t s dO n from Saidc DOTtiOh N in ments of parts which will be exemplified in the throughthe u or va G termi a in at construction hereinafter described and ofwhich apex A at the lower end of the tooth T. Foreign the scope of theapplication will be indicated in c u t o i a progressive Caseperiodonthe following claims, tal disease may be found in a pathologicpocket In the accompanying dr wi in hi h i P formed in the subgingivalregion opposite the shown one illustrative embodiment of this injawalveolar bone J, as a us mass M adhervention, ing to the tooth rootsurface R.

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary side elevational View As seen from the drawing,an denotes a dental of a jaw region showing a tooth, partially broken 40instrument constructed to embody the invention away, undergoingperiodontal treatment with a for use in removing said calculus mass M ordental instrument constructed to embody the inother adhering formationson the neck N or root vention. portion R, of the normal tooth structureT thus 2 is a front elevational View of the tool or making conducive theenvironment for mainbusiness end portion of the instrument shown intaining the health of the adjacent tissues, and Fig. 1 formed withacutting blade extending in in treating and conditioning the surfaces ofsuch substantially straight alignment with the shank tooth portions tobring the environment conthereof. ducive to return the surroundingtissues into a Figs. 3 and 4 are enlarged fragmentary front alt y no alState fr e o D c e elevational and leading end views, respectively, Saidinstrument 2%] may be made in the conof the cutting blade of theimproved dental inventional manner as a single steel structure, orstrument, shown in Figs. 1 and 2. as here shown, may comprise anelongated handle Figs. 5, 6, I and 8 are side elevational views of 21made of any suitable material such as plastic, tool or business endportions of instruments con- Monel metal, stainles steel, brass orsteel, polstructed to embody the invention formed with ished or chromeplated, having an end holder 21a, the exterior surface Zlb of which maybe knurled and provided with spaced grooves to serve as a frictional,non-slip finger gripping means. Said holder 2Ia may have suitable means,such as an axial tapered bore 2ic into which is fitted to firmly andrigidly seat tapered end 22a, of a tool 22 having business leading endportion 22b for said instrument 20.

Said tool end portion 22b may be made of a suitable material, such astempered steel, polished or plated, having a blade 23 terminating in anintermediate shank portion 220 which extends from said tapered end 22a,said blade 23 serving as an exploring, cutting and planing mean forremoving said calculus mass M in the manner hereinafter described.

Blade 23 may be made with flattened wide front and rear sides or faces23a that are each hollow ground or otherwise formed with a taperedconcaved surface 23d of a contour that is readily adapted to conform, asfar as practical to the convexities of surfaces of the neck N or rootportions R of the teeth T to permit bringing one of two leading cuttingand planing edges 23b of blade 23 in position for giving maximumeffective contact therewith. Fattened narrow or edge side portions 230of the blade 23 between said wide faces 23a may be tapered down fromsaid shank portion 221) at an angle to provide a prying wedge structurewhich may serve to break or split off the said mass M and thereby oftenreducing the requirement of the cutting and planing action by blade edge23b to minimum.

The cutting and planing edge 231) may be made to have a convex contourtransversely with respect to the length of blade 23, as shown in Fig. 3,so that it provides a shearing action when effectively used. Leading end236 of blade 23 which terminates said tool and portion 22b is otherwisefiat or slightly concaved so that the two identical spaced apart cuttingand planing edges 231) are each selectively made available of use, as isclear from Fig. i. Preferably the four corners 237 of blade end 236which terminate spaced cutting edges 23b are rounded off or blunted, sothat when contacting the tooth surfaces at an angle other than thateffective to permit cutting and planing action blade edges 236, saidcorners 23; cannot readily score the root surface or lacerate softtissues contiguous with the root surface thereby lessening possiblebleeding and obscuring the field of treatment. Said rounding off ofblade corners 23f also eliminates to a great extent possibility ofinjuring or destroying the radiolucent decalcified osteoid matrix.

The efficiency of the procedure with said instrument 28 is thus assuredwithout depending only On the sense of touch but rather having the addeddesired advantage of reducing bleeding to a minimum and hence makinggreater visibility available.

Any scoring or nicking of the tooth root surface B should the corners 23of blade 23 be left sharp creates new rough or jagged areas whichprovide niduses for the redeposition of additional foreign matter.

The shank portion 220 from which blade 23 extends is so constructed andarranged to be relatively, thin, narrow and of a length to give acontrolled flexibility to a measured degree of pressure, namely, for afinger pressure of about three ounces on handle surface 211), the blade23 will be flexed approximately to 7 from its normal set position asindicated in dotted lines in Fig. 9. Said pressure transmitted to blade23 provides a resilient fiexure of said tool end portion 221;,permitting blade 23 to override convexity, concavity or other verticaland horizontal dilacerations of the tooth root surfaces R withoutdestroying it normal integrity thereof, thus manipulation of theinstrument 20 takes place through said feel control as well as withmaximum visibility requiring a minimized digital skill with lessinsipient potential damage to the tooth structure being treated.

In Figs. 5, 6, '7 and 8 are shown various forms of tools 39, 4Q, 5t and66 each adapted to be securely fitted into holder 2 la of handle 2l,each tool being provided with a blade 23 constructed as above described.These tools which are selectively used represent examples of thoseforming a et of so called straight, hoe and offset types, at least abouteight of such tools being considered as a set for use on various toothsurfaces usually submitted to periodontal treatments.

In practising the invention, with a set of instruments 2t constructed asdescribed above, let it be assumed that tooth T shown in Figs. 1 and 9is to be given periodontal treatments, said tooth T having a slightgingival recession forming pocket P due to a subgingival irritant, suchas calculus mass M in said pocket P. The blade 23 on a straight typetool 22 mounted in holder 2!, as shown in Fig. 1, is inserted in thepocket P with the concave surface 23d conformed to the convexed surfacetooth root R. Finger pressure exerted on holder 2! is transmitted as aresilient fiexure means to blade 23 against said tooth root surface R,and on planing movement the blade 23 will cut into the mass M with thetapered Wedge of said blade 23 often splitting the mass M into fragmentwhich can be removed thereby reducing the otherwise required scaling andcuretting operations.

The mass M may be completely removed by planing with instrument 23 toleave the root tooth surface clean and smooth thereby aiding ineliminating the pocket P conducive to return the surrounding tissues toa healthy condition.

The specific shape and contour of the surfaces of blade 23 as has beendescribed above provide means to accomplish the results soughtexpeditiously and with maximum control requiring a minimum of digitalskill while eliminating unnecessary bleeding and destruction of theunderlying soft and hard supporting tissues, as is clear from Fig. 9.

Each of the blade edges 23b shaped as described above provide highlyeffective shearing and planing means yet eliminate to a great extentundesirable injury to the surrounding tissue or nicking of the rootsurface because of the rounding of corners 23!.

It is thus seen, therefore, that there is provided an improved dentalinstrument in which the objects of the invention are achieved and whichis well adapted to meet all conditions of technical and practical use.

As various possible embodiments may be made in the above invention foruse for different purposes and as various changes might be made in theembodiments and method above set forth, it is understood that all theabove matters here set forth or shown in the accompanying drawing are tobe interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent:

In a dental instrument construction having a flexible shank portioncarrying a blade comprising flattened wide front and rear faces, aleading end terminating said wide faces, concaved surfaces formed ineach of said wide faces tapered toward said leading end, each of saidsurfaces being of curved cross sectional shape to selectivelyaccommodate convexed surfaces of neck and root portions of teeth,flattened narrow side ,portions extending between said wide facestapered from said shank portion to said leading end to provide with saidwide faces spaced apart planing edges each serving to remove adheringformations on said neck and root portions, said flattened tapered facesforming a wedge structure for splitting off subgingival irritants fromsaid tooth neck and root portions, each of said planing edges formedbetween said concaved surfaces at the leadin end having a concavecontour of a curvature of at least that of the exterior of said neck androot portions positioned to extend transversely with respect to thelength of the blade, and rounded off corners provided at the 6 junctionof said flattened wide faces with the leading end to terminate saidedges for preventing accidental gum laceration.

ABRAHAM BERLINER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,503,610 Smith Aug. 5, 19241,899A89 Wickbergh Feb. 28, 1933 2,211,952 Kelly Aug. 20, 1940 FOREIGNPATENTS Number Country Date 440,585 France May 6, 1912 OTHER REFERENCESI-Iu-Friedy Products, Immunity Steel Catalog (recd in Patent OfficeNovember 13, 1929), page 41, Item: 4; page 72, Item: 52.

